Rating: 
Cesar Gourmet Filets dog food gets the Advisor’s mid-tier rating of three stars.
The Cesar Gourmet Filets product line includes eight canned dog foods. We found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy statements for these dog foods on the Cesar website.
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Prime Rib
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Filet Mignon
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Roast Turkey
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Rib-Eye Steak
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Grilled Chicken
- Cesar Gourmet Filets New York Strip
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Beef Tenderloin
- Cesar Gourmet Filets Braised Chicken
Cesar Gourmet Filets New York Strip Flavor dog food was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.
Cesar Gourmet Filets New York Strip Flavor
Canned Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Sufficient water for processing, chicken, liver, beef, meat by-products, wheat gluten, starch, pea fiber, salt, minerals (potassium chloride, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide), sodium tripolyphosphate, iron oxide, color added, vitamins (vitamin A, D3, and E supplements, d-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate [vitamin B1], biotin), new york strip flavor, guar gum, xanthan gum
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 5.6%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
| Estimated Nutrient Content | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Method | Protein | Fat | Carbs |
| Guaranteed Analysis | 8% | 5% | NA |
| Dry Matter Basis | 44% | 28% | 20% |
| Calorie Weighted Basis | 34% | 51% | 15% |
The first ingredient in this dog food is water… which (of course) adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a fairly routine finding in most canned dog foods.
The second ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.1
Chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.
The third ingredient lists liver. Normally, liver can be considered a quality component. However, in this case, the source of the liver is not identified. For this reason, it’s impossible to judge the quality of this item.
The fourth item is beef. Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.2
Beef is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.
The fifth ingredient lists meat by-products… otherwise known as slaughterhouse waste. This is what’s left of a slaughtered mammal after all the prime cuts have been removed.
In a nutshell, meat by-products are all those unsavory leftovers of slaughter frequently deemed “unfit for human consumption”.
With the exception of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, this stuff can include almost anything else… heads, ovaries, developing fetuses… you name it.3
What’s more, since the source animal is not named, the meat can come from anywhere. Road kill, dead zoo animals, diseased or dying livestock… even euthanized cats and dogs.
Although this item does contain all the amino acids a dog needs, we do not consider meat by-products a quality component.
The sixth ingredient includes wheat gluten… the rubbery residue remaining once wheat has had most of its starchy carbohydrate (the good stuff) washed out of it.
Compared to meat, glutens are inferior grain-based proteins low in many of the essential amino acids dogs need to sustain life.
This less nutritious plant-based ingredient can significantly boost the total protein content reported in this dog food.
The seventh ingredient is listed as simply starch. The source of this starch is unknown but it is most likely derived from corn or wheat. Starch is probably used here as a thickening agent.
The eighth ingredient is pea fiber… a mix of soluble and insoluble plant fiber derived from pea hulls. It is probably used here to add bulk.
In addition to the usual benefits of fiber, pea fiber can account for a trace of extra protein in this food.
From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.
But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to have much of an effect on the overall rating of this product.
With one notable exception…
We note the minerals here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.
Cesar Gourmet Filets Dog Food
The Bottom Line
The Cesar Gourmet Filets recipe opens with some quality meats… but then deteriorates as it adds meat by-products and wheat gluten to the mix.
But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 44%, a fat level of 28% and estimated carbohydrates of about 20%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 46% and a mean fat level of 28%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 18% for the overall product line.
Above-average protein. Average fat. And below-average carbs… as compared to a typical canned dog food.
Yet when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the wheat gluten, this still looks like the profile of a canned dog food containing notable amount of meat.
Bottom line?
Cesar Gourmet Filets is primarily a meat-based canned dog food using a significant amount of chicken and liver as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand three stars.
Recommended.
For comparison purposes you may want to look at a lower-rated product from the same company, you may wish to visit our review of Cesar Original dog food.
A Final Word
This review is designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food. However, our rating system is not intended to suggest feeding a particular product will result in a specific health benefit for your pet.
For a better understanding of how we analyzed this product, please be sure to read our article, “The Problem with Dog Food Reviews”
Remember, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, choose wisely. And when in doubt consult a veterinarian for help.
Have an opinion about this dog food… or maybe the review itself? Please know… we welcome your comments.
01/13/2010 Original review
08/18/2010 Review updated
08/18/2010 Last Update
The Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.